They Called Me ‘Buhari’s Boy’, Ex-AGF, Adoke Makes Shocking Revelations in New Book

A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, has expressed regrets that in the course of carrying out his duties as required of him as the country’s Chief Law Officer, former President Goodluck Jonathan and his deputy, Namadi Sambo had reasons to believe gossips that he was working for President Muhammadu Buhari.

Adoke, who was Jonathan’s AGF from 2010 to 2015, made his position known in his book, “Burden of service – Reminiscences of Nigeria’s former Attorney-General,” due to be available for sale in Nigeria on Monday.

He said he found the allegation of him being a ‘Buhari boy’ very ridiculous and he was devastated when Jonathan confronted him with the allegation.

He said, “On May 12, 2015, we held the last National Security Council meeting under the Jonathan administration. After the meeting, the President asked me to see him in his office.

“There, he confronted me with the accusation that he was told I had prevailed on him to withdraw his assent to the amendments to the constitution because I was a ‘Buhari boy.’

“I found the allegation ridiculous. I was being accused of disloyalty by the very President to whom I had given my total and unalloyed loyalty! I was devastated and sad.”

He said he felt humiliated by Jonathan’s words because that encounter came after he had earlier suffered the indignity of being accused of disloyalty by the former President’s wife, Patience.

He said he, however, assured the former President that he was not Buhari’s boy and that all that he did were done in his (Jonathan’s) best interest.

Adoke said he had earlier learnt from the then Minister of National Planning, Prof Abubakar Suleiman, that Sambo told him that he (Adoke) “was an APC (All Progressives Congress) man and was the arrowhead of those who prevailed on the President to hastily concede defeat.”

He said he knew that Sambo was among those who did not want Jonathan to concede defeat to Buhari in 2015.

“It was obvious that the VP did not want the President to concede at that time.

“The room, to put it frankly, was full of hawks. They were playing on the emotions of the President and trying to dissuade him from following the path he had carved for himself five years earlier on the mantra that nobody’s blood was worth his ambition,” he said.